Butler Voices Watchmen's Freighter (Blog)

Gerard Butler confirmed to Empire Magazine that he will lend his voice to Tales of the Black Freighter, the comic-within-a-movie that is part of Watchmen, the superhero film being directed by Butler's 300 helmer Zack Snyder.

The Scottish actor had been linked with a role in Watchmen for a long time, but when nothing materialized, it seemed likely that he wouldn't appear in the highly anticipated film, based on the seminal graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

But Snyder hatched plans to film the Tales of the Black Freighter, which tells the tale of a castaway's mental and physical deterioration and damnation as he tries to intercept a ghost freighter headed for his hometown, and include it on the Watchmen DVD as an extra. Butler's name surfaced once more.

"I'm going to do the voice of the captain," Butler told the magazine. "They're going to do it in the style of a Japanese anime, and I'm totally stoked. I actually read the script before reading the comic book, and I thought it was awesome. Then I read the comic book, and it's great. The little bits that have been added define it so much more. It's very dark, and there's just something so descriptive and scary. It's this descent into madness but explained in such a sane way that you totally feel it yourself. By the end, my heart was pumping!" Watchmen is slated to open March 6, 2009.